Day 18 - 22

Call a Butterfly Ambulance!

Our first butterfly hatched overnight. While we were away swimming, a helpful adult added some fresh caterpillar food and water to our habitat. When we got back to school the first butterfly crashed into the caterpillar food and its wings got stuck in the food. Mrs Flasha helped the butterfly get out of the food dish by tipping the dish. The butterfly's wings were stuck together with food in between them. Mrs. Flasha took the butterfly food out of the container. Then, she got an eye dropper and used it to give the butterfly a little shower. We named the first butterfly Shannon in honor of one of our fantastic teachers at school. Shannon is doing well and seems to have recovered from her little emergency. Over the next 2 days most of the other chrysalises hatched. We still have 4 more to go in the habitat. Jon Junior is one of them that is still a chrysalis too!

Food for the Butterflies

We needed to figure out something that the butterflies could have as food. First, we added juice, water and sugar water in little to-go cups. We poked holes in the lids with a push pin so the butterfly proboscis could get in and drink. (The butterfly's proboscis is like a tongue and like a straw that sucks nectar out of flowers). The butterflies didn't know where to go for food with the to-go cups. Mrs. Flasha thought the holes were too small so after school she cut bigger holes in the lids of other cups and added them to the habitat. The butterflies noticed the food but they couldn't climb up the sides of the to-go cups to get the food so we took the cups out.

Butterfly Proboscis Drinking Sugar Water

Next we dipped small pieces of sponge in sugar water and juice and put them in the container. We also put in lids with a very small amount of sugar water and juice so they wouldn't drown in the lid! Most of the butterflies went to the sugar water. It didn't matter if it was the cup or sponge, they liked the sugar water the best. A couple of butterflies drank the juice.

Finally, Cow Girl and Princess Cow Lover brought in lilacs for the butterflies. The butterflies liked the flowers a lot. Below is a mini movie of the butterflies drinking from a lilac.